WACE

Overview

The Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) is the main senior secondary certificate awarded to school students in Western Australia. It is set and administered by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA). WACE study is built from several kinds of courses and programs — ATAR courses, General courses, Foundation courses, VET industry specific courses, VET qualifications taken through credit transfer, and endorsed programs — and each student puts together an individual program from what their school offers. The certificate sits within the Australian Qualifications Framework and is used by universities, vocational training providers and employers.

Who can apply

WACE is designed for students completing Years 11 and 12 at a Western Australian school, generally aged around 16 to 18. SCSA does not require every requirement to be finished inside a single two-year Year 11–Year 12 block: a student can meet the WACE standards over a longer period, including returning to study after a break, as long as the standards are eventually met.

Exam pattern

How a course is assessed depends on its type:

For ATAR course written examinations, SCSA sets a common statewide paper for each subject, held on the same date and time across the state, so results can be compared between schools.

Marking and results

To be awarded the WACE itself, a student must meet three separate standards:

• Breadth-and-depth standard — complete at least 20 units, or unit equivalents gained through VET or endorsed programs, including a minimum number of Year 12 units, units from an English course, and units spread across different subject groupings.

• Achievement standard — reach at least a C grade (or equivalent) in a set minimum number of Year 11 and Year 12 units, including a minimum number at Year 12 level.

• Literacy and numeracy standard — either pre-qualify through a sufficiently high band in the Year 9 NAPLAN reading, writing and numeracy tests, or pass the relevant components of the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA), which can usually be attempted more than once across Years 10 to 12.

For ATAR courses, each student also receives a course score that combines their school-based assessment with their external examination result, moderated so that marking is comparable across different schools. A student's best-performing ATAR course scores are used to calculate an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), a ranking (not a raw mark) used for university entry. The ATAR calculation itself is carried out by the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre (TISC), the body WA universities use for undergraduate admissions, working from the ATAR course scores SCSA reports.

Important dates

For the 2026 WACE cycle:

• Practical and oral ATAR course examinations: Saturday 26 September to Sunday 25 October 2026.

• Written ATAR course examinations: Wednesday 28 October to Thursday 19 November 2026.

• Year 12 results: made available to students online through the SCSA student portal in mid-December 2026.

Because the Western Australian school year runs from around late January/early February to December, this exam and results calendar follows the Southern Hemisphere school year, with the main exam period in spring and results released shortly before the summer break.

Fees

Sitting WACE courses and examinations carries no fee for students enrolled at a Western Australian school. SCSA charges fees only in specific circumstances: for 2026, an overseas full fee-paying student studying at a WA school pays a separate per-course fee that depends on year level, and a WACE candidate sitting an examination outside Western Australia is charged to cover the cost of running an external exam centre. SCSA also charges for optional administrative services, such as issuing a replacement Statement of Results or WASSA (WA Statement of Student Achievement).

After the exam

Once the written and practical examinations finish, SCSA marks the external papers and combines them with each school's moderated assessment marks to produce final course results, released online in mid-December. Students who have enough eligible ATAR course scores also receive an ATAR, calculated by TISC from their best-performing courses. WA universities, and universities in other Australian states that accept the WACE, use the ATAR together with any course-specific requirements when offering places for the following academic year.

Preparation tips

• Track progress against all three WACE standards — breadth-and-depth, achievement and literacy-and-numeracy — from Year 11 onward, rather than leaving them until the final term of Year 12.

• For ATAR courses, treat the year-round school assessment as seriously as the final exam, since both are combined into the course score.

• Use SCSA's published syllabus documents and past ATAR course examination papers to understand what each written exam covers.

• If the Year 9 NAPLAN band needed to pre-qualify for literacy and numeracy wasn't reached, sit the OLNA components early, since there is usually more than one attempt available across Years 10 to 12.

FAQs